1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to tools. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hand tool used to remove a strip of material from a surface. Specifically, the invention is related to a collapsible tool
2. Background Information
There are numerous applications wherein a strip of material must be removed from a surface. In the tire testing art, strips of material are formed into belts of friction material by securely adhering the strips to thin metal belts that are rotated to function as test surfaces. The belts simulate road surfaces and are relatively expensive. Tires are engaged with the test surfaces and one or both of the tire and test surface move to simulate driving forces on the tire. The belts of friction material are typically securely attached to the test surface with an adhesive. When the user needs to change the type of friction material or when the friction material wears out, the operator must remove the belt of friction material from the test surface and install a new belt. Removing the belt of friction material is not easy, especially after a tire has traveled the equivalent of thousands of miles on the surface. Machine operators have been forced to remove the belts section by section with a small hand-held scraper in a manner similar to removing old wallpaper without the benefit of a wallpaper removal chemical. One drawback with the scraping tool is the amount of time necessary to remove the large belts. Another drawback is the potential damage to the expensive test surfaces. A further drawback is the potential injury to the operator's hands. Another method of removing the belt of friction material is to wind the belt of material around the bar. A drawback with using a tool in this method is the difficulty in removing the wound belt from the tool. A significant amount of force is needed to remove the belt from the test surface and this force winds the belt tightly about the tool and tightly to itself. The belts often become so tightly wound to the bar that a hammer is needed to force the bar out from within the wound belt.
Operators who must remove these belts as part of their day-to-day activities desire a tool that helps remove the belts in large portions so that the scraping is eliminated. These operators also desire a tool that is easy to remove from the wound belt after the belt is removed from the test surface.